The cable news networks pivoted to breaking news in Massachusetts shortly after 3pmET Monday afternoon as two explosions went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Fox News was the first cable news network to report the news at 3:06:18 p.m., followed just seconds later by CNN at 3:06:53 p.m. MSNBC reported the news at 3:08:45 p.m. All three cable news networks were several minutes minutes behind the first reports of the explosions on Twitter.

Fox News and CNN are relying on live pictures from Boston local stations. MSNBC has video from New England Cable News, which is owned and operated by NBC Universal.

> More: The broadcast networks also broke in with news of the explosions. CBS News was first at 3:10pmET, followed by ABC News and NBC News at 3:13 p.m. Scott Pelley is anchoring on CBS, Brian Williams on NBC and Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos on ABC.

> More: Matt Frucci, the incoming executive producer of CNN’s new morning show, is doing eyewitness reports from the scene for the network. Wolf Blitzer is anchoring. And on Fox News, Shepard Smith is talking with WGBH’s Emily Rooney, former network executive and daughter of Andy Rooney.

> More: Anderson Cooper is on his way to Boston and will anchor at 8pmET and 10pmET.

> More: Here’s affiliate video of one of the explosions, as seen on CNN:

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Lawyers representing George Zimmerman filed the paperwork in the circuit court in Seminole County, Florida. They also created a website, GZvNBC.com, which has all the pertinent documents. Rumors of the lawsuit were first circulated in October, but it is now official.

“NBC News saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, and so set about to create the myth that George Zimmerman was a racist and predatory villain,” the complaint reads.

Earlier this year NBC had to apologize and launch an internal investigation after “Today” aired an edited version of the 911 call Zimmerman made to police. The edited version made it sound as though Zimmerman thought Martin was acting suspiciously because he was black, when in fact he was responding to a question from the dispatcher.

When it was all said and done, two NBC staffers lost their jobs as a result of the edit. The two staffers, along with correspondent Ron Allen are also defendants in the case.

The lawsuit is embedded after the jump.
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Holt will also anchor Weekend Today from Tampa, and he’ll be in two other battleground states over the next two Sundays: Virginia next week and Ohio on Nov. 2, two days before the election.

NBC’s Ron Allen, David Gregory, Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell will contribute reporting.

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George Zimmerman‘s attorney’s plan to file charges soon, naming NBC News president Steve Capus and correspondent Ron Allen as defendants in addition to the organization as a whole.

The edit in question made national news, and seemed to suggest that Zimmerman was following Martin because he was black, when in fact a police dispatcher asked what race he was. NBC launched an internal investigation into the matter, and eventually fired a number of employees over the incident.

The Post adds:

A source tells us, “The suit will be filed imminently against NBC and its news executives. The network’s legal department has put everybody in the news department involved with this incident on notice, telling them not to comment.”

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Luciano last reported for NBC News March 31. Until that point, she had been reporting mainly on the Trayvon Martin story. Sources tell TVNewser Luciano’s dismissal came after an investigation which also led to the firing of a seasoned NBC News producer over a similar, misleading edit. In a story for the “Today” show on March 20, Luciano used part of the George Zimmerman 911 call in which an entire phrase (italicized below) was taken from a later part of the conversation:

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good or on drugs or something. He’s got his hand in his waistband. And he’s a black male.
Dispatcher: Are you following him?
Zimmerman: Yeah.
Dispatcher: Okay, we don’t need you to do that.

A week later, on March 27, another correspondent, Ron Allen used similar audio from that 911 call in his story, leaving out the dispatcher’s follow-up question.

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.

As we’ve reported, here’s how the conversation actually happened:

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.
Dispatcher: OK, and this guy — is he white, black, or Hispanic?
Zimmerman: He looks black.

That edit resulted in the dismissal of the NBC News Miami producer. NBC News confirms with TVNewser that Luciano is no longer with the network. She joined NBC News from Univision just 18 months ago.

Luciano is the third NBC employee to have lost their job over this story. As TVSpy reported last week, WTVJ reporter Jeff Burnside was fired for a similar circumstance.

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During our investigation it became evident that there was an error made in the production process that we deeply regret. We will be taking the necessary steps to prevent this from happening in the future and apologize to our viewers.

The story left out a portion of the 911 call which left the impression that Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, was racist.

We asked if there would be repercussions for the “error.” No comment from NBC.

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After the Fox News segment and calls from media reporters, NBC News says it is investigating the story. “We have launched an internal investigation into the editorial process surrounding this particular story,” a spokesperson told the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple Saturday.

Here’s how the “Today” show story, reported by Ron Allen last Tuesday, included the call:

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.

Here’s how the conversation happened, with the dispatcher’s question:

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.

Dispatcher: OK, and this guy — is he white, black, or Hispanic?

Zimmerman: He looks black.

The “Hannity” segment after the jump…

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• ABC News Radio presents a special one-hour broadcast: “Race and Justice: A National Conversation” hosted by Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts. The special airs tonight at 7pmET on ABC News radio affiliates and will focus on the national dialogue sparked by the shooting death of  17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

• At 10pmET/PT, as part of “Rock Center with Brian Williams,” several NBC News and Sports personalities will give their perspective on the case. NBC Sports’ Tony Dungy, NBC News correspondents Ron Allen, Tamron Hall, and Lester Holt, and David Wilson, executive editor of theGrio.com, all give their take on the story.

• CNN will be taping a town hall special tomorrow night at Time Warner Center. “Beyond Trayvon: Race and Justice In America” will be hosted by Soledad O’Brien with a live studio audience and a panel of expert guests. The special will air Friday night at 8pm and 10pmET on CNN.

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NBC News correspondent Ron Allen:

I was living in London. We raced to catch the next flight to Pakistan within hours of the attack. Everyone knew Bin Laden was responsible. Pakistan was the way to get to him in Afghanistan. I spent the next 3 and a half months in the border region, covering the Taliban and their incredibly oppressive regime, crossing back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan a couple of times. Meanwhile, my life was completely and utterly on hold. I’d left behind at home an engagement ring, I’d just bought a few days before all of this, for my fiancé, Adaora Udoji, an ABC News reporter back then. Fortunately, she came to Pakistan too. We covered the war for competing news organizations, from different floors of the Islamabad Marriott, destroyed in an attack a few years ago. And when, it was over, we went home to London. I proposed. And we got married not long after that.

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No one has been named to fill Guthrie’s role as White House correspondent, although LA correspondent Kristen Welker has been on the beat recently.

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Fox News was first to confirm the news that Osama Bin Laden was dead at 10:40 PM ET. Geraldo Rivera was at the desk at the time, and responded to the news by saying:

“Happy days, happy days. This is the greatest — give me a wide shot of the general. This is the greatest night of my career. The bum is dead. I am so blessed and privileged to be at this desk at this moment.”

CNN confirmed the news at 10:42 Pm ET, and NBC News (and MSNBC) confirmed the news at 10:45 PM ET. All three networks engaged in speculation as to what the news was about from around 10 PM until their confirmed it, and all three raised Bin Laden as a possibility.

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“There was a very brief newscast that was projected on a screen,” Allen told TVNewser. “Suddenly people started running in that direction. From our vantage point we just saw people running and yelling and screaming and waving flags, and it was obvious that something really profound had happened.”

That something was the statement from VP Suleiman that Mubarak had resigned, and that the military was taking over control of the country.

As Allen recalls, the mood was starkly different following Mubarak’s speech last night:

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• CBS’ Katie Couric
• NBC’s Al Roker and Ann Curry
• ABC’s Kate Snow
• CNN’s Anderson Cooper (Update)
• FNC’s Orlando Salinas and Steve Harrigan
• NBC’s Brian Williams
• CBS’ Dave Price
• ABC’s Richard Besser and Dan Harris
• NBC’s Kerry Sanders, Michelle Kosinski and Ron Allen
• FNC’s Bill Hemmer
• CBS’ Jeff Glor, Byron Pitts, and Kelly Cobiella
• CNN’s Ivan Watson, Susan Candiotti. Sanjay Gupta, Gary Tuchman, Jon Mann, Juan Carlos Lopez, and Chris Lawrence
• ABC’s Diane Sawyer
• ABC’s Robin Roberts
• FNC’s Jonathan Hunt
• FNC’s Greta Van Susteren

Anderson Cooper is the first anchor on the ground and is already reporting.

CBS “Evening News” and NBC “Nightly News” are planning to broadcast from the region tonight. Katie Couric arrived in Santo Domingo just before 12pmET, and in Port-au-Prince at 2:30pmET.

ABC’s Diane Sawyer heads there from Afghanistan, so she likely won’t be on air from Haiti until tomorrow.

FNC WH correspondent Wendell Goler was first on Hispaniola because…he was already there. Goler was on vacation in the Dominican Republic when the earthquake struck. He reported for “FOX Report” via phone last evening.

At 2:54pmET, Brian Williams did a live phone interview from Haiti. We’ve also learned that “Nightly News” will be one hour tonight.

On Thursday, Sawyer will anchor “World News” and Robin Roberts will anchor “GMA” from Haiti. George Stephanopoulos will anchor “World News” this evening from New York, which is as previously scheduled due to Sawyer’s Afghanistan trip.

Couric will anchor an hour-long broadcast of “Evening News” for CBS this evening.

ABC “World News” will also be one hour.

> Wednesday Evening Additions: FNC’s Greta Van Susteren will head down during the day Thursday and will host “On the Record” from Miami Thursday night.

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	This morning, “Good Morning America” will have reports from Martha Raddatz and Brian Ross focusing on terrorism and security. At 8:30amET, “GMA” will broadcast coverage of the Ground Zero ceremonies and, at 9:30amET, Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts will anchor coverage of the president’s remarks at the pentagon. On “World News,” Jim Sciutto will have special reports on NYPD’s counter-terrorism unit. During “Nightline,” Bob Woodruff will interview author Jon Krakauer about his upcoming Pat Tillman book.
	For CBS, “The Early Show” will be covering the morning anniversary services and have a live report from Ground Zero. During “Evening News,” Katie Couric will explore some remaining questions from the tragedy.
	To start, Ron Allen will be live for “Today” at Ground Zero to deliver reports. NBC “Nightly News” will have a special “Making a Difference” segment on national service along with their coverage of the day’s news.

TVNewser will update with more information as we receive it. Cable news plans are here.

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“I hope long-term, Bridges TV can play a role towards a better understanding between America and Islam,” Muzzammil Hassan said at the time. His wife, Aasiya Hassan, had recently filed for divorce.

Click continued to see the December 2004 report…

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